Envelop.



No. 341,34 PATENTED JAN. 15, 1907'.

. I J. A. SHERMAN.

ENVELOP.

APPLICATION 21mm DBO. 19. 1901.

M/nrss's: I M W W I nnrrnn srarns ATENT @Fiiifin.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 15, 1 907- Application filed December 19, 1901. Serial No.86.476.

2'' 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN A. SHERMAN, of

Worcester in the count of Worcester and on both sides of its middlesection. The

( weight of the blank will thus be distributed with substantial equalityupon both sides of I l State ofhlassachusetts, have invented a new j thepickers and the blank may be lifted Withand useful improvement inEnvelops, of out the addition of any other instrumentahty which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of envelops used especially formailing circulars which are intended to be made up, except ashereinafter stated, and used in the same manner in which the ordinaryletterenv'elop is used.

It is desirable that an envelop inclosing a circular shall be not onlycapable of hem opened, so that its contents may be examine in the mail,but shall appear to be sealed like a letter in order that the receivershall not easily recognize ,what it must contain, but shall open it ashe would a letter and at least glance atits contents. It is alsodesirable that such envelop shall be made of a blank of such shape thatit may be cut economically from a web of paper and made up, gummed, andfolded by the ordinary envelop-machine, and that While affordingopportunity for examining its contents, as required by law, the

loose flap shall-be largeenough in proportion 3S end flap.

to the opening which it closes to enable the envelop to be used forcirculars Weighing at least the limit of single postage, according tothe postal rules. In such envelope as have heretofore been made, sofaras l am aware, the gumming' has been exclusively on one side of themiddle line of the envelop--viz., the side opposite to that carrying theloose This has made it impracticable, owing to the comparatively smallsurface of the blank to begummed, to rely, solely upon the picker orgumming mechanism of tho envelop-machine to lift theblank from the pileof blanks, and it has therefore been necessary to provide some otherInechanism-- for example, a vacuum li.fter----to assist the ordinarypickers in their function of lifting l the blank toplaceit upon thecarrying mechanism whereby it is to be carried to the fold mg mechanism.

7 he purpose of my invention is to make an envelop the contents of whichmay be easily examined Without breaking its seal-and upon "which at thesame time the gumu1ing-surfaces shall be so distributed that the gum-Hung-pickers may be relied upon solely to lift the blank, thedistribution of the gumming-surfaoes upon the blank being such that thepickers may lift the blank near and than the pickers. Thus my envelop,below described, may be made upon any ordinary envelop-n1 achine of thatwelbknown charac ter which requires gumming-pickers only to lift theblank from the top of the pile with only a slight changein the extent ofthe picking or gumming surface. My envelop below described is thereforeone in which the sealing-surface of the front or seal flap ex- 1 tendsalong considerably more than half the edge of that flap so that not onlymaythe I blank be thus lifted, but when the envelop is l sealed thereWill not only be afforded a secure f g'ummed closure to the envelop, asin the case of an ordinary envelop, but it will be possible to inspectits contents without unnecessary I trouble.

My invention will be understood by referi once to the drauings, inwhich-- l Figure 1 shows a blank adapted to make l an envelop embodyingmy invention, Fig. 2 showing the envelop made therefrom ready for use.

The blank from which the envelop is made consists of a body portion Aand four flaps B, D, and The gumnled surface upon the 'ealflap B isindicated by the shading lines J, and it will be seen that it leaves theend i ap E unsealed. The gunmied surface upon the back flap D isindicated by the shading lines d, and it will be noted that in each casethe gumuied surface extends along one side of each flap and forconsiderable distance beyond its middle or projecting point I) 01 alongthe other side of the flap, so that when the envelop is-closed there illbe nearly the same amount med su ace holding the envelop closed i theordinary sealed lcttor-envelop or both sides of the inner surface.

The end flap C is made considerably longer than the end flap E, thelength of this flap C and the g'ummed surfaces 7) and d being soproportioned to each other that both the front flap B and the back flapD may be scaled to the extremity of this end flap 0, I thus affording avery adequate closure and reducing considerably the opening which wouldexist if both end flaps were the same size, meeting in the middle of theenvelop, as is the case with the ordinary letter-envelop.

The envelop as originally made up is per- 1 l l i menently closed in themanufacture thereof by the folding in first of the end flap E, then ofthe end. flap C, and lastly of the guinmed flap D, the seal-flap B beingcreased as usual, but, as it carries Wet gum, not heing'pressed againstthe end hips to close the envelop permanently, the gum upon theseal-lien he ing allowed to dry in the usual manner.

The envelop so construct ed may he handed and boxed in the ordinary inminer and n i a y be filled with circulars in the same manner in which eletter-envelop may he filled, after which the seal-[hip is scaled. allas with the letter-envelop The sealing of the seal-lisp and the hecklisp against the end (lap C inelles a permanent and secure closure toprevent the contents of the envelop from felling out; hut as the gumupon these two flaps does not touch the end flap l that lie-p is alwaysfree to he withdrawn for the examination olthe contents of the envelopin its passage through the mails, ii desired. When the envelop reachesthe receiver, however, it is to all appearances a sealed letter.

I are aware of Letters Patent No. 532,206, dated January 8, 1895; No.673,864 of May 14, 1901, and No. 687,196 of November 26, 1901, anddisclaim. the inventions therein described. By extending the gum acrossthe point of both my heck flap and seal-flap, as I am enabled to do Withperfect safety without causing both end flaps to be sealed owing to(5&15346 the relative shapes of the flaps, I am enabled to hit anyordinary blank in the ordinary envelop naking machine by the ordinaryguimning-pickers alone, no matter What its dimension, because of thesymmetrical dispositi on of the gum on both sides of the median line ofthe blank. Moreover, the free end of the completed envelop by reason ofits short length is easily drawn out endelso less likely to accidentallycome out than in the envelops shown in any of the patents referred to.

What I claim as my invention is- An envelop having etteched to the bodythereof a heck. Hep, e seahfle'p, and two end llaps one of which endflaps is made considerehly longer than the other and is edeted also tooverlap the some in psrt,which eck and seal flaps are adapted to lepover said end liens and he perii'ienently secured to the I longer ofsaid flaps, both said heck flap and said seshilztp having gun'iinedsurfaces extending on both sides of their projecting points whereby saidflaps may become pern'mnently sealed to said longer end fleploy sealsextending to the extremity thereof.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my name this 14th d :ty of December,1901.

JOHN A. SHERMAN.

l Vitnesses r i GUSTAF BERG FRED R. HINGKEL.

